1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a gearshift operation device for a transmission installed in a tiltable cab over type truck.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a passenger car has an engine room and a passenger compartment. The engine room contains an engine and a manual transmission, and the passenger compartment contains a driver seat and a shift lever for the manual transmission. The shift lever is placed near the driver seat and mechanically connected to the manual transmission through a link mechanism. With this gearshift operation device, a driver in the driver seat can shift the gear of the manual transmission by operating the shift lever manually.
The gearshift operation device disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3191626 includes a shift lever placed at an instrument panel in the passenger compartment, and the operation of the shift lever is transmitted to the manual transmission through a select cable and a shift cable. The gearshift device of this type provides a large space under the instrument panel, or around a driver's feet in the passenger compartment. Thus, a driver or a passenger can easily move from the driver seat to a passenger seat next thereto or vice versa.
It is clear from the above patent publication that the above gearshift operation device only suits passenger cars. No consideration is given to applying it to a tiltable cab over type truck.
Specifically, a truck of this type has a cab which forms a passenger compartment, and an engine and a transmission are placed under the floor of the cab. The cab is joined to a vehicle body through a hinge pivot. Upon the hinge pivot, the cab can turn, or tilt forward of the vehicle body. Thus, when the cab is tilted, the engine and the transmission are exposed to the outside, so that they can undergo check, maintenance and the like.
When the cab is tilted this way, the distance between the cab and the transmission increases. Hence, the gearshift operation device disclosed in the above patent publication cannot be applied to the tiltable cab over type truck.
An object of the invention is to provide a gearshift operation device that can provide a large space inside the cab and allows the cab to be tilted.